'Odd Couple' cooks up laughter

By Paul Kolas TELEGRAM & GAZETTE REVIEWER

Sunday

Nov 28, 2010 at 1:37 PMNov 28, 2010 at 3:02 PM

It's highly doubtful that there are two local actors more ideally suited to play the roles of OscarMadison and Felix Unger than Michael Lapomardo and Vic Kruczynski. Apparently they've brought their real lifestyles to Worcester County Light Opera Company's Grandview Playhouse, and latched them on to their considerable acting prowess.

The result is perhaps the most completely satisfying production - of the many - that this reviewer has seen over the past several years. That takes into account not only Neil Simon's original recipe version - which this happily is - but the female flipside and the questionable cell phone/Internet update. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

"The Odd Couple" works best as the guy thing it was meant to be, and boy, did it ever work last night, right down to Mark Goodney's inspired set design, which brings a thread of elegance to Oscar's pigpen of an apartment. Even the notebook paper strewn on the floor by the wastebasket is tastefully crumpled. Goodney also brings a nice whiff of sarcasm to his role of Speed, one of Oscar's card-playing pals. What makes this particular production work so well is the feeling of impromptu that director Barbara Weichrauch's wonderful cast gives to Simon's wise-cracking dialogue.

Lapomardo understands exacty what Oscar is all about. He may be a slob, he may appear not to have a care in the world, but we all know that his casual disregard for sanitary living quarters, fresh food, and timely alimony payments to his ex-wife Blanche are his way of coping with life after divorce. It's a lot easier to laugh it off than look the uncertain future directly in the eye. How lucky we are to have Lapomardo's superbly assured portrait of this slovenly character.

He's so engaging, so funny, so entertaining, you wouldn't hesitate for a second to sit down at the card table with him and maybe, just maybe, even take a bite out of one of Oscar's infamously stale sandwiches. It's one those performances in which the man and the role are one and the same.

The same can resoundingly be said for Kruczynski and his marvelously endearing take on Felix. You may want to jump up on the stage and give him a supportive hug when he breaks down and tells Oscar and the gang that his marriage to Frances is over. That is, if you're not laughing too hard to get up from your seat. Seldom has the combination of despair and obsessive-compulsive disorder been so hilariously served up. Kruczynski, like Lapomardo's Oscar, was born to play Felix, a wonderful mess of misery, fussiness and sensitivity, just the ingredients to make his pairing with Lapomardo a casting coup of the highest order. They are as good a marriage of opposites - sorry Blanche and Frances - as one could wish for.

It's no accident that they even call each other by their ex-spouses' names near the end of the play. And as terrific as Kruczynski and Lapomardo are at romping through Simon's script, they do just as well with the "silent treatment" opening of Act 2, when Neat Freak and Slob try to subvert each other, one cleaning up crumbs and picking up poker chips, and the other tossing them back on the floor. The attention to character detail extends to the supporting cast, down to Rob Lynds' effusive Murray, who worries about Felix's every move. Every now and then Lynds will let loose with a goofy laugh after a joke, something that adds a little to the character. Ed Savage (Vinnie) and Dennis Metro (Roy) also seem right at home at Oscar's card table. You feel that you're watching old friends trying - with humor and affection - to help one of their buddies through a rough time.

When the ladies finally enter the picture, Cathy O'Brien and Lisa Mielnicki handle the roles of Gwendolyn and Cecily Pigeon with a deft blend of sophistication and empathy. Their crying scene with Felix is as well-orchestrated as everything else in this memorably staged "Odd Couple." You can clean things up later. Go laugh yourself silly.

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